An Inaugural Prayer: Stretch Yourself as Person and President – to Stretch us too…

O God, as we invoke Thy name, on this day consecrating national
unity, we note that even belief in You no longer unites us. Still, just as we
hope everyone will hear this invocation as an invitation to access our inner
godliness, we hope Americans will again see the red, white and blue fibers of
proud history, shared liberty, and common destiny connecting us, beyond the
issues dividing us.

As a Jew, I say “God Bless America” for welcoming us as fellow
citizens, equal in every way. This is the American miracle, accepting the
tired, the poor from all over, valuing all people as seeds of our future, not
harbingers of decline. American nationalism is uniquely absorbent, a patchwork
quilt creating E Pluribus Unum,one out of many.

Reading the book of Exodus this Sabbath, Jews will relive our
liberation from Egypt, this wondrous template of revolutions for freedom. Moses
inspired America’s revolutionaries. The escape to the Promised Land inspired
African-American slaves. We too need liberation -- from consumerism’s excesses,
from popular culture’s idolatry, from politics’ polarization, from social
media’s nastiness.

We extol America’s Founders for building this democracy with the
Biblical building blocks of liberty, equality, and individual dignity,
epitomized by that verse adorning the Liberty Bell proclaiming “liberty
throughout the land.” The Framers fused yesterday’s wisdom with the
sensibilities of their day– we should too.

As Americans, standing in democratic awe, we mute partisanship
momentarily. We note how terrorists bond us in anguish – we vow to bond in
national pride too. Let us be motivated by love not fear, by mission not
mourning, by hope not despair. Let us reach the highest heights of idealism and
goodness together rather than just fighting evils abroad – or each other at
home. Democracies don’t just bond for self-protection; liberal nationalism
anchors us and propels us to improve the world.

We honor our outgoing President, Barack Obama, for gloriously
uniting us when he was elected. Whatever our partisan differences, we rejoiced
that this land that once enslaved blacks was now led by one. And we thank the
remarkable Obama family for their public service – and public spiritedness.

We welcome Hillary Clinton to this podium. We thank her for
validating this peaceful transfer of power, demonstrating that we don’t boycott
the people’s choice. Winners and losers gracefully shake hands and move on,
fulfilling Thomas Jefferson’s inaugural proclamation after the vicious election
of 1800: “We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists.”

We don’t dodge passionate debates when necessary but don’t
ignore common ties whenever possible. We will debate every presidential action
vigorously, but as good patriots we also cherish and defend our system’s
integrity, from the electoral process to rituals like this one.

And as we beseech defeated Democrats to act gracefully, we ask
victorious Republicans to act humbly. If after the Civil War Abraham Lincoln
could offer “malice toward none… charity toward all,” so can we.

We entreat you Mr. President, on this hallowed day: heal this
country, appeal to what Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature,”
leading wisely and generously. Remember, as FDR did in 1937, the forgotten
Americans, the “ill-clad, ill-housed, ill-nourished.” And mobilize the
patriotic self-sacrifice John Kennedy aroused in 1961, when he said “ask not
what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Be strong enough to scare
our enemies so you need not crush them, and courageous enough to be gentle
enough to rally our friends at home and abroad in common cause.

President Trump, stretch to be the best person and the best
president you can be – and Americans will stretch with you; we know that
leaders who shrivel into small-minded, divisive demagogues, diminish their
followers too.Sing
the song Ronald Reagan sang in his second inaugural, rhapsodizing about “the American sound…
hopeful, big-hearted, idealistic, daring, decent, and fair.”

We pray, Mr. President, that you will save America from becoming
a Republic of Nothing, lacking anchoring morals, consensus ideals. Forge a new
consensus making America a Republic of Everything – open, welcoming,
pluralistic – but also a Republic of Something, with core ideals, motivated by
a renewed covenant offering every American a good life and maximum liberty,
while pursuing genuine happiness in ways that improve America – and inspire the
world. Amen.

Gil Troy, a professor of history at McGill University and a
visiting professor at the Ruderman Program at Haifa University, is the author
of The Age of Clinton: America in the 1990s, published by St. Martin’s Press.
His next book will update Arthur Hertzberg’s The Zionist Idea. Follow on
Twitter @GilTroy.